Potential Clinton Hockey Rink Sparks Debate at Recent Meeting

At a 2012 town meeting, Clinton residents voted 46-34 to lease the old landfill property off of Old Nod Road for the period of one year to Shoreline Ice. The property was leased for $1 per acre so the company could explore their proposal of developing an ice rink on the property.

Recently, at a June Board of Selectmen meeting, the Board voted to extend that lease for another year so the company could continue their research. Joe DeFilippo, President of Shoreline Ice, who attended the meeting, shared that the company had received a grant from the state to aid in their investigation.

"The town agreed to lease this property initially for a year so the company could go forward with their site investigations," First Selectmen William Fritz told Patch last week. "And now, we've extended the lease so he can continue his investigation. He will still need to go through all the standard process of getting approval from Planning and Zoning, Inland Wetlands, etc. before he can actually move forward. We simply gave him another year to do that."

Kirk Carr, treasurer of the Clinton Taxpayers Association stated at the meeting that the Board was not authorized to extend the lease because it involved the "sale of any real estate," referencing the town's charter. Fritz stated that because of the time frame of the lease extension was one year and under three years, the proposal did not have to go to a town meeting to be approved. 

According to meeting minutes, the board was given a copy of the land lease extension for review, and Selectman Rigat made a motion, seconded by Giannotti to approve the one year lease extension. The motion was approved unanimously, with one abstention from Selectwoman Walter.

"This will not cost the town any money," Fritz said in an interview with Patch. "Shoreline Ice would own and operate the rink, and it will generate tax revenue for the town, about $90,000 in tax revenue when looking at comparisons. In addition to attracting people to Clinton to frequent our local eateries, shops and so on. There is nothing but a plus side to this."

Clinton resident Vin Cimino, a Director of CTA, raised concerns he had about Shoreline Ice LLC, specifically concerning the type of grant Shoreline Ice had obtained from the state and a past alleged lawsuit against DeFilippo's company, Maplewood Construction.

Cimino stated at the meeting that the grant that DeFilippo applied for, the Targeted Brownfield Development Loan Program, required that the company not have the financial resources to perform their own investigations of the property.

"I asked him if they had the financial wherewithal to pay for the testing and evaluation themselves and he said several times that they do," Cimino told Patch in an email. "I told him that the grant required that they not be able to afford those costs themselves. He later said that his attorney handled all that."

Fritz later told Patch that the grant program DeFilippo used was designed to "help developers offset the cost of working with a site that is considered undesirable."

Cimino also cited a "federal lawsuit pending against Maplewood Construction" at the meeting. DeFilippo stated that there was suit filed in December of 2012, but the matter was all cleared now. He also explained that in order to be approved for the grant he was given, the state was required to go through his whole records. 

"They wouldn't give me money if that was the case," DeFilioppo stated at the meeting. 

Cimino also stated in an email that there were several other lawsuits that Maplewood Construction were involved in.

Fritz told Patch that the alleged suit had nothing to do with the hockey rink project. He stated that those who were opposed to the proposal and lease extension were so for strictly "political reasons."

"It is unfortunate that the conversation was reduced to personal attacks," Fritz said. "Currently, the property is useless to the town. People want us to bring economic development to the town, and this is a good thing for the town."

You can view a clip of the meeting here (see attached video) and you can also view a 15 minute segment concerning the issue here on YouTube.